Rice Salad with Peanut Ginger Dressing

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Crunchy, creamy and colorful. This rice salad is is loaded with flavor and packed with good for you ingredients.

Rice Salad With Peanut Dressing

The first time I ever ate a rice salad was a long time ago, before I was married and had kids, and was working full time, okay, who am I kidding? I still work full time, actually I work overtime. I bet if you’re a mom, whether or not you are working outside the home, you can probably relate. Because parenting is a full time job! Back when I had 2 toddlers and I was a stay at home mom, I thought my schedule was full. And it was. And now I have 4 kids, homeschool, still stay at home mom, when I’m not driving my children somewhere, write a blog, etc, and guess what, my schedule is full. I look back and think those days were easy. What I’ve discovered along the way, is that wherever you are at, you are at your max. People with 6 or 8 kids, maybe they think 4 is easy.

But, I’m getting off track here. So, back in the day, I used to frequent a local restaurant that had a Rice Salad. I ordered it every time, I loved it. I recently remembered that and it inspired me to create this beauty.

Shhh, my secret weapon

My Sweet Tooth

I have to mention, I have a sweet tooth. If you’ve been around here at all, you know I’m a “everything in moderation” kind of girl. However, as I’m, ah-hem, aging, my body handles sugar differently than it used to. One of the things I’m loving right now is Truvia. I used to not even think about substituting anything for sugar, but last year I did some research and was pleasantly surprised to find Truvia Spoonable is a perfect choice. For one, it’s NOT artificial, it’s a natural sweetener, and has zero calories! It’s stevia based and the flavor is amazing. I can’t even tell that I’m not using sugar. If you’re counting calories, or simply trying to reduce sugar in your diet, you’ve got to try it friends.

I use it in my home made chai teaand many other recipes that call for sugar or honey. It can take the place of any sugar or sweetener, it is so versatile, and did I mention it tastes great?! Personally Truvia Spoonable is my favorite way to purchase it, but you can buy packets, brown sugar blend, or, there’s even a baking blend.

Stay Healthy

Lots of people are getting back into their health goals after the holidays. I am the same way, I’m just craving healthier foods. Let’s make a salad.

First, get the rice started. With rice, you basically need two parts liquid to one part rice. Using coconut milk as the liquid is a perfect way to add flavor and creaminess to your rice. For this recipe, used 1 cup rice, and 2 cups of coconut milk. While that’s cooking, you can slice and dice the veggies, and cashews. I just love all the colors in this salad! And these beautiful veggies give it good crunch.

Toss the rice and veggies together with the chopped cashews. Reserve some whole cashews for the topping. Once it’s all mixed together, serve it in individual bowls, and top with the dressing, cashews and cilantro. Serve with pita points or warm flat bread.

Grab your Truvia Spoonable at your local Walmart and get cracking on this salad! Join me in 2016 staying on top of your fitness goals!

This is the perfect recipe to add to my recipe box for healthier recipes this year and I love the idea of using the Truvia to give you the sweetness without adding a lot of calories and sugar to what I am making. Thanks for the great idea!

I’ve never tried truvia, but this has me looking at it as an option. I know you have good taste and so I’m willing to take your recommendation and try it. I love rice, we all do here, and I love mixing it up with salsa etc. But I’ve never tried a rice salad. Pinning so I can pull this up at the grocery and gather the ingredients. It not only sounds like a healthy option, but a tasty one too!

Yes, really tasty! I love the different textures all in one bite of this salad. I’ve been a Truvia fan for awhile now. Really is tasty, you don’t need much and no calories! Perfect way to get a little sweet in.

The salad sounds really good… EXCEPT for the peppers (I can’t abide the taste of raw red, yellow, or green peppers). Is there something I can substitute? Maybe zucchini and yellow squash? Grape tomatoes? Water chestnuts?